Chapter 6
Wylie loved his office now that it was finished.
He’d been working on it for the past three days and thought that he had it just the way he wanted it.
He didn’t have any work to be going on right now, but he thought that if he needed something to be looked up, he’d have the perfect place to do it in.
He closed his laptop and went to find Rosie.
She’d been interviewing cooks today, and he didn’t envy her the job.
He wouldn’t know the first thing about interviewing anyone for any kind of job.
She said she’d only just hired them two cooks as they both wanted to work part-time. He asked her how that would work for them, and she smiled.
“One will work during the daytime and the other in the evening. It’ll be nice this way because we can work around their schedule.
And since they don’t want the same day off, we can have meals every day so that we don’t have to fend for ourselves.
I like that best of all. It will also save us from going out so much.
While I do enjoy a meal out with you, it gets too expensive to have to do every day. ”
“I’ve made arrangements for us to have a little garden next year.
I miss having fresh vegetables around all the time.
It was usually the only way that we could afford to eat so well.
It won’t be until spring, but it’ll be something to do too throughout the summer months.
” She asked him about pumpkins. “We usually grew those too, but the pie-eating kind. Did you want to grow pumpkins for the front of the house, too?”
“Sure. If we have any leftovers, we can give them to your brothers. I did notice that Kinsey and Meggie have a garden. She told me that David had had a garden in before they moved into the house. It’s well established, too, in that they have one every year.
” He thought that they could do that as well.
“I thought you’d say that, and I’m happy for it too.
I love fresh carrots that are right out of the garden.
I don’t even care if they’re a little dirty when I eat them. ”
“I’m the same way when it comes to tomatoes.
I love taking a salt shaker out to the garden and pulling a nice ripe tomato off the vine and eating it with a good dose of salt.
It’s still warm from the sun, and the flavor is so much better than you can get in a store.
” He rubbed his belly. “Now that’s all I want is a tomato fresh from the garden.
” She told him that was one of her favorite memories of growing up with her grandma.
“I miss mine so much. I think of her all the time and wonder if she’s looking down on us, smiling because we sold the farm.
It was her fondest wish for us to sell it and become men of leisure. I loved her a great deal.”
“I did mine too. She was forever there for me.” She said she depended on her parents a great deal as well. “I know. I’ve seen the three of you together, and you make a great family picture.”
For the rest of the evening, they talked about memories they had as children growing up in their homes.
He didn’t have all that good of memories, not of his parents, but he did remember his grandma and how she had brought them up to be good men.
But she wanted more for them than working themselves to death working on the Pennington farm.
With her dying breath, she told Kinsey to sell it and get on with their lives while they were still young enough to enjoy it.
Not to be broken down by running a farm that would suck them dry.
When it was time for dinner, the roast was perfect.
He’d even browned up some potatoes to go with it, as well as a nice fresh salad.
It had tomatoes on it, but they were from the grocery store and not as good as they’d been talking about.
He couldn’t wait for summer to roll around again so that he could tinker with a little garden just for the two of them.
It was nearly midnight when they went to bed.
Their new bed would be there tomorrow, and he was looking forward to that.
It was larger than could be found on the market, and they’d have to have sheets especially made for it, but he didn’t care.
He was looking forward to having a bed big enough that they could sleep together and play around in it as well.
Wylie had two interviews tomorrow about part-time work.
He didn’t want to be working full-time just yet and was glad that they understood that.
One of the interviews was working for Meggie, and he had not told her that he applied.
It was going to be a good job, and he was looking forward to maybe getting it.
As soon as he set his alarm, he was ready to go to sleep for about twelve hours.
Or more, but knew that he had to get up sometime sooner than that.
“I’m looking into giving my notice at work too.” The room was dark, and Rosie whispered in the night. “I’ve had enough. I’ve been doing this job since I got out of college, and it’s too much for me right now. I love the fact that you have money so that I can take my time finding something else.”
“We have money right now, not just me.” She said that she knew that, but would forget when she was talking about it. “I don’t want you to forget that we’re a couple and everything that I have is yours too. I love you and want you to be happy.”
“I am happy. Happier than I thought I’d ever be.
” She snuggled around him, and he held her.
“I’m exhausted again. I think I’m going to go and see the doctor soon to see if he can give me something to keep me going.
It might be something so simple as being stressed all the time, but I’m going to make an appointment in the morning. It can’t hurt.”
“I’ve been worried about you, too. You seem to doze off at the drop of a hat.
While I love watching you rest, you do it a lot.
And stress isn’t anything to mess with. I want you to be happy and awake.
” She didn’t say anything, and he realized that she was asleep.
He was all right with it now, as it was bedtime, but he did worry about her.
Perhaps when she quit her job, she’d be more rested, but he didn’t know for sure.
He hoped it was nothing too serious. He worried about her.
Wylie didn’t fall asleep right away. He had too many things on his mind and was worried about Rosie.
Getting up after he was sure that she’d not wake up, he left the room in favor of going to his office and looking at things on the internet.
He didn’t use his phone for fear of waking Rosie.
He would just read for a little while and then go back to bed.
He’d done it before, and it usually gave him a good night’s sleep to be able to read for a little while.
Going back up to bed at around two, he was less stressed and feeling good about going to bed.
He slipped into the bed and was happy when Rosie wrapped herself around him.
It was the best part of sleeping with her.
She knew how to give the best hugs in the middle of the night.
He knew when he woke in the morning, he’d be refreshed and ready to go.
Mornings were his favorite part of the day.
His first interview didn’t go so well. The man was sort of pissed at him that he wanted to work.
He said that there were people out there who needed a hand up, and he was just taking it from them.
Then why did he have a help-wanted sign in his window if there were so many people who needed a job?
He didn’t understand people at all. As he was making his way to the other interview, he hoped that it would go better.
He’d not told anyone that he was related to Meggie by marriage and hoped that it wouldn’t make a difference.
The second interviewer was running behind, and Meggie found him in the waiting room, waiting for the man to get his shit together. She asked him why he hadn’t said anything, and he told her that he wanted to get the job because he was qualified and not part of the family.
“I would have hired you right away. Even for all your experience in working on the farm, you’d be a good asset for us.
Just as a consultation on farms that we might buy up to resell would be something that I could use you for.
” He told her that he didn’t want her to make up a job for him.
“I’m not, I promise. I really do need someone who’s an expert on farms and what they might need in the way of loans.
However, I’m beginning to think that all of them need a little help now and again. ”
“You’re right on that. We could have used more help than we asked for when I think about it.
If not for Howard at the bank, there are times when I think we would have lost everything.
Especially when it came to the little things like a hot water heater.
I think that Kinsey nursed ours along for more than a year so that we’d be able to take a halfway hot shower.
Still, that left us washing our clothing in ice-cold water, and they’d not get all that clean.
” She said that he’d told her about the loan that he’d gotten.
“We have a lot of terrible memories of the place, but a lot of good ones too. We were all together, and that was important to us. We didn’t have much, but we did have each other to lean on, and I think that’s the only way that we were able to hold onto the farm. ”
“You’re going to be perfect for the job I have in mind.
” He said that he had an interview with someone twenty minutes ago.
“I know. Lucky for us, I was able to see you first. He might have hired you, but your talent would have been wasted on what he was going to hire you for. My way, I get the best of both worlds. You working for us and your knowledge about farms.”